Energy Efficiency and Sourcing Renewable Energy

As an integrated oil, gas, and chemicals company, OMV operates large facilities and is also a major energy consumer. The amount of energy we use creates a significant impact on the environment. Effective management of energy consumption reduces the environmental cost of our operations, increases financial savings thanks to energy efficiency, prevents non-compliance with regulatory requirements on energy use, and mitigates the climate effects of GHG emissions.

Energy efficiency measures therefore have a considerable effect on issues relating to energy consumption of interest to stakeholders:

• Governmental authorities: compliance with EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) regulations relating to the submission of emissions allowances within EU ETS; compliance with the EU Energy Efficiency Directive requiring greater energy efficiency in all stages of the energy value chain
• Shareholders and other stakeholders with a direct financial interest in OMV: financial savings resulting from reduced energy consumption, lower production costs, and lower GHG emissions
• NGOs/NPOs: reduced impact of our operations on the environment

Management and Due Diligence Processes

The OMV Group Environmental Management Standard requires that all OMV businesses and activities use energy responsibly, conserve primary energy resources, and implement energy management plans in accordance with ISO 50001.

Identification of Measures

The potential for reducing energy use is identified in annual campaigns encouraging improved environmental performance, including energy consumption. For example, we have set targets for refineries to reach certain energy index ratings through annual monitoring campaigns. Based on their energy index rating, we identify and assess areas for improvement in energy efficiency. Subsequently, we decide which measures to implement to improve energy consumption as part of our environmental governance process. Borealis makes up 33% of energy consumption in the OMV Group. Borealis has set a target to improve energy efficiency by 20% of the absolute primary energy consumption from a 2015 baseline by 2030. After the acquisition of a majority stake in Borealis, a new initiative to identify and raise joint synergies at the jointly operated Burghausen and Schwechat sites has been established.

Technical Improvements

Energy efficiency measures in OMV operations are closely linked with technical improvements directed at reducing energy use while achieving the same operational output. Process optimization and increasing energy efficiency to save costs and reduce CO₂ emissions are a strong focus of our refineries.

Energy Consumption

in PJ

One of the internal KPIs which has always been our focus in recent years is the energy efficiency of our refineries. In 2020, the lower throughputs due to COVID‑19 also prevented us from running all refineries with the planned energy efficiency. The situation improved in 2021 with recovered throughputs, higher utilization, and therefore a return to better energy efficiency.

In Chemicals & Materials, Borealis’ initiatives include energy teams at each production location that drive the location’s energy planning process, increase awareness, act as a forum for energy issues, and ensure ISO 50001 compliance. To progress beyond this baseline, all Borealis locations run energy screening programs every four years, often with third-party support, to evaluate their energy performance and identify improvement opportunities. In 2021, to identify ways to improve energy efficiency, Borealis finalized energy screenings in Stenungsund (Sweden) and Porvoo (Finland).

Sourcing Renewable Energy

We are increasingly turning to renewable sources of electricity to power our operations. For instance, in our refineries in Schwechat and Burghausen, electricity contracts stipulate that 50% of purchased electricity must be from renewable sources. Electricity purchased in OMV’s Austrian filling stations and head office is already 100% renewable. In Austria, OMV and VERBUND built a ground-mounted photovoltaic plant, which produced 11.9 GWh of renewable electricity in 2021. The electricity produced in 2021 covered 9% of the electricity demand of E&P Austria. In Norway, the Gullfaks and Snorre assets, operated by Equinor, are building a floating offshore wind farm called Hywind Tampen, which will supply power to both Gullfaks and Snorre, and reduce their emissions by 200 kt per year. Hywind Tampen will be the world’s first floating wind farm to power offshore oil and gas platforms. Eleven floating wind turbines with a total capacity of 88 MW will partly electrify the Gullfaks and Snorre assets in the Norwegian North Sea, offsetting 200 kt of CO₂ emissions and 1,000 t of NO_x emissions per year.

2021 Actions

Energy efficiency measures implemented at our three refineries in 2021 make it possible to achieve an annual decrease of more than 22.2 kt CO₂ equivalent and energy savings of 310 TJ. For example, the Petrobrazi refinery continued its digitalization journey to improve energy efficiency by applying operational measures and designing new projects in order to reduce energy consumption. In 2021, Petrobrazi finalized the Energy Monitoring System pilot project at the Atmospheric Distillation Unit. It is designed to monitor energy consumption and energy losses from an operational and design perspective. This project was applied to the pump for the crude oil feed, the crude oil preheat train, and the heat exchangers as well as the atmospheric distillation furnace. The results will be analyzed in 2022.

In Chemicals & Materials, examples of energy efficiency actions taken at Borealis during 2021 included: a furnace revamp in Stenungsund, which delivered an energy performance improvement of 18 GWh primary energy; a reliability improvement program in Geleen (Netherlands), which delivered an energy improvement of 30 GWh primary energy; bypassing a distillation tower in Porvoo, which delivered energy savings of 17 GWh; the start-up of a chemical heat pump in Kallo (Belgium), which delivered primary energy savings of 8 GWh; and implementing advanced process control in ammonia production at Linz (Austria) and Grandpuits (France) to optimize energy consumption, delivering savings of 20 GWh/year for Linz and 20 GWh/year for Grandpuits. At Grandpuits, optimizing the steam network delivered energy savings of 14 GWh/year.

In E&P, key energy efficiency projects included:

• In Tunisia, additional electric and gas meters were installed at the Waha plant to improve energy monitoring in Tunisia, and energy savings tips were implemented for the Waha camp (e.g., in areas of significant energy use such as cabins, laundry, the kitchen, and restaurant).
• In Norway, a low-emission hybrid jackup rig was used for drilling in the Ommadawn exploration well. A battery package was installed on the rig to reduce diesel consumption and a catalyst to reduce NO_x emissions. As a result, CO₂ emissions were reduced by 57% (from 3,232 to 1,382 t per 30 days) and NO_x emissions were reduced by 78% (from 48 to 2 t per 30 days) as compared to 2020 operations.
• In E&P OMV Petrom, we automated the oil piston pumps at Suplac Park at the Crișana asset. The energy savings resulted from changing the continuous operating regime to operating only when necessary, according to level radars in the oil decanter. Another initiative was the optimization of gas delivery from Bărbuncești station, Moldova asset, by adjusting the compressor regime to the needs of the consumers, which in 2021 mainly comprised the nearby local community. With this adjustment, the gas from the stage 2 compressors now has the required delivery pressure and only needs to go through the new drying station to ensure the gas is of the required quality before being delivered. The four stage 3 compressors were therefore used to a lesser extent, resulting in energy savings.

We also undertook energy saving measures at our offices. At Petrom City, conventional lighting was replaced with LED technology, for instance. This project will continue through 2022.

In addition, we continued to scale up our sourcing of renewable electricity. In 2021, Borealis installed its first solar photovoltaic rooftop array generating electricity for production purposes at the Borealis plant in Monza (Italy). The company has also signed long-term renewable energy supply deals for its assets in Sweden and Belgium.

Outlook

We will continue to identify measures to improve energy efficiency, and take the following actions in the coming years:

• OMV Tunisia will conduct a regulatory energy audit for the Waha central processing facility and the Nawara central processing facility to assess current consumption and identify potential areas for improvement and energy reduction.
• In Norway, we will continue with the same focus on reducing diesel use with hybrid jackup rigs in 2022. These rigs are provided with battery packages which reduce the use of diesel by approximately 15 to 20 t per day, which also translates to reduced emissions. In addition, a NO_x catalyst has been installed, reducing NO_x emissions by approximately 80%.
• In E&P OMV Petrom, we will improve energy efficiency in 2022 by optimizing the natural gas production system at the Moldova asset. Three engines from the Comănești combined heat power (CHP) plant will be relocated to the Alboteşti warehouse and Park 2 Văsieşti to produce electricity and heat. Consequently, the old hot water and steam boilers will be shut down. In 2022, we also plan to modernize the Bărbuncești compressor station at the Moldova asset. The twelve old XOB compressors will be replaced with three new screw compressors and frequency converters.
• At the Schwechat refinery, further optimization will be achieved with a dynamic matrix control for a waste heat recovery system to allow additional utilization of approximately 2.5 MW of waste heat. This will help increase the amount of the refinery’s waste heat channeled into Vienna’s district heating system and Vienna International Airport, where an additional significant increase of GHG-free energy support is planned for 2022.

We will continue to increase our sourcing of renewable energy to power our operations. In Chemicals & Materials, the business purchasing the greatest amount of energy, our aim is to have all energy purchased be renewable by 2030.